Delivery truck body



4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 15, 1936 11v VENZOR W1 WM A TTORNE Y y 1939. E. R. PRITCHARD 2,165,980

DELIVERY TRUCK BODY Filed April 15, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNEY July 11, 1939. E. R. PRITCHARD DELIVERY TRUCK BODY Filed April 15, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 11v VENTOR f.

ATTORNEY Patented July 11, 1939 UNITED STATES DELIVERY TRUCK BODY Eugene R. Pritchard, Chicago, 111., assignor to The Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company, Stamford, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application April 15, 1936; Serial No. 74,426

5 Claims.

This invention relates to a body to be utilized on a delivery truck, and especially a delivery truck for delivering milk, or other commodities which may be delivered in a moist or wet state or which may require moisture or the use of ice to keep and of recent years such delivery trucks have become increasingly more popular. Naturally, the body construction of my invention may also be applied to a conventional truck having no depressed floor portion.

In a truck of the class described, it will be readily appreciated that it is necessary to provide a compartment which will be comparatively water tight, and which will not permit drippings from the material carried or from ice getting into the wood of the body construction and rotting that construction. My invention relates more especially to'means for preventing, as far as possible, any moisture reaching any of the wood construction which is utilized in my body.

More in detail, my invention provides a truck body construction which is relatively simple to assemble, which uses a minimum of "wood construction and places that wood construction in such a position relatively to the metal that it cannot be reached by the moisture, and which provides in addition means for getting rid of condensation water which necessarily forms on a body of this type.

While in the prior art it has been customary to provide wood side sills, wood cross sills and a wood flooring, over which flooring a metal sheet is placed, by my invention, I eliminate all such flooring and sills and provide in addition a relatively simple means of supporting the superstructure of the truck body. In this way, I eliminate the rotting of all the lower wood members previously used in the art, and I am able to obtain a truck body which will last indefinitely longer than truck bodies used previously in the industry.

Before describing in detail the preferred modiflcation of my invention, it will be helpful to indicate generally the construction which I utilize, and whereby I am able to obtain the unusually fine results already indicated generally. Essentially, my milk truck body comprises a pan which is formed of sheet metal bent up at the sides and secured directly to the chassis frame through metal angles. or any other suitable means. I then utilize this metal pan secured as it is to the chassis frame, for itself supporting all the superstructure of the remainder of the truck body.

To do this, I secure a series of wood posts to the outer sides of the pan, and preferably, these wood posts are secured to the sides of the pan through metal angle members, which metal angle members are first secured to the sides of the pan by welding or riveting, so that no post securing means go through the body of the pan after the securing of the series of angle members thereto. These posts carry top side rails at their upper ends which support the roof of the truck.

Inside lining sheets are secured to the inside surfaces of the posts and preferably extend over the edge of the sides of the pan. An outside lining is secured to the outer surfaces of the posts, and this outside lining forms with the inside lining an air space leading to the atmosphere at the bottom of the truck and at the lower end of the outside lining, so as to furnish an open air space to permit air to circulate over the wooden posts or the other wood used between the inside lining and the outside lining, and to permit the ready escape of water of condensation.

While I have so far described only the salient features of my invention, it will be understood that there are other features which are very important, andwhich will be indicated specifically in the specification. I believe that I have made a'very important contribution to the art of milk truck and other bodies, and I desire to claim that improvement very broadly in the claims appended hereto. I shall now refer to the drawings for a description of a speciflc,modlflcation of my invention.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a full view of a milk truck on' which my body is mounted. Fig. 2 is a view of a. part of the truck of Fig. 1, with the outside lining removed. Fig. 3 is a view of the pan in its relation to the chassis. Fig. 4 is an end view of the body, showing its construction and the shelves for supporting the material to be delivered. Fig. 5 is a simple end view showing the pan in its relation to the truck chassis frame. Fig. 6 is a vertical section through my body showing the means of securing the posts to the pan, and the inner and outer linings attached to the posts. Fig. '7 is a section taken along lines 1-1 of Fig. Fig. 8 is a section taken along lines 8-8 of Fig. 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, reference numeral I0 indicates generally a truck of the type with which my body is to be used. This body has a compartment H in which the driver is adapted to stand for operating the truck and driving it, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art. In Fig. 2, I show the truck of Fig. l with the door l2 removed, and with the outer lining also removed and disclosing the internal construction. This internal construction comprises a pan l4, best illustrated in Figs. 3 and 5, which is formed of sheet 1 metal with sides I! about eleven inches in heighth and a flat load carrying portion about fifty inches in width. Naturally, other dimensions may be used. 1

As probably best illustrated in Fig. 6, an angle member l6 may be secured by bolts or rivets I! to the pan. These bolts or rivets may be welded to the pan, and later on galvanized when the pan itself is galvanized. The truck chassis frame is designated by reference numeral l8 in Fig. 6, and the angle member I6 is bolted or riveted to the member it when the body is assembled to the chassis frame. It is the securing of the pan to the chassis frame which is the outstanding feature of this construction.

As is best seen from Figs. 2, 3, 6 and 7, there are secured to the sides ii of the pan 8. series of angle members l9 which may be bolted or riveted, or preferably welded to the pan, and later on galvanized with the pan, just as the angle members I 6 are galvanized with the pan. These angle members I9 support a series of vertical body posts formed of wood and held against the transversely extending flanges of the angle members i9 by bolts 2| which extend in the direction of the sides l5 of the pan. It will be seen that the posts 20 are secured to the pan through angle members IS in such a way that there will be no way for moisture to reach the posts 20 from the pan, as would be the case if the posts were directly secured to the pan through bolts or other means.

At their upper ends, the posts 20 support top side rails 22, which top side rails in turn support the roof 23 of the truck body. Inside lining sheets 24 are secured to the inner surfaces of the posts 20 and extend downwardly preferably over the upper ends of the sides l5 of the pan M. It should be indicated that preferably the body posts 20 are notched at the pan sides so that the inside of the posts is flush with the inside surface of the pan, and this allows the inside lining 24 to run downwardly over the edge of the pan, as shown in Fig. 6. If desired, the construction may be such that the inside lining 24 will support some of the weight of the superstructure, but this is generally unnecessary. The upper end surface of the inner lining 24 is secured to the top side rails 22, as is probably best seen in Figs. 4 and 6.

The angle members 25 are all secured to the sides of the truck body by galvanized screws 26 which tranverse openings in the inner lining 24 and enter the posts 20. They are used, of course, to support trays or cases in which the commodity being handled is carried.

A belt rail 21 is mortised into the posts 20 and supports a belt molding 28 for better holding in position the outer lining 29, which is secured to the posts 20 in a conventional manner. It will be readily appreciated from viewing Figs. 6, 7 and 8 especially, that between the inner lining 24 and the sides l5 of the pan on the one side, and the outer lining 29 on the other side, there is formed an air space 30 which runs from the bottom of the pan on the one side and the bottom of the outer lining on the other side, clear to the top side rails 22 of the truck body. This permits of full ventilation of the wood posts, the wood belt rail, the top side rails, and allows alsofor easy draining of the water of condensation which will naturally form on the outer surface of the inside lining and elsewhere on a body of this type.

It should be observed at this point that there is no way for moisture to reach the body posts and the other wood work beyond the inner lining, and that even should moisture, through some leakage, reach such members, this moisture would be accessible to the atmosphere through the air space 30, as will be readily appreciated.

The pan is preferably braced by an angle member 3| at its rear end and by a channel member 32 at its forward end. This channel member functions not only as a bracing member, but also,

as a dam to prevent water from the pan l4 reaching the driver's compartment H, as will be readily appreciated from Fig. 3. The space between the vertical fianges 33 of the channel member 32 is utilized for sliding doors positioned between the drivers compartment H and the pan I4, and the load carrying space thereabove. In Fig. 4, there are shown vertical structural members 34 secured between the pan M and the roof bracing member 35, and supporting angle members 36 on said members 34 which carry shelves 3 in a manner well known by those skilled in the art.

I believe that the operation of my invention will now be clear and that the relative importance of the contribution will be understood.

I now claim:

1. In a truck body of the class described, a metal pan having turned up sides, a chassis frame, means securing said pan to the chassis frame, body supporting posts secured to the outside of the pan at spaced points, a body superstructure carried entirely by said posts and comprising an inner sheet metal lining secured to the inside surfaces of said posts and forming in effect extensions of the turned up sides of said metal pan, and an outer sheet metal lining secured to the outer surfaces of said posts, the spaces between said linings leading to the atmosphere at the lower ends of said linings to facilitate escape of products of condensation formed in the spaces between the said linings.

2. In a truck body of the class described, a metal pan having turned up sides, a chassis frame, means securing said pan to the chassis frame, body posts secured to the outside of the pan at spaced points and supported by said pan, an inside lining secured to the inside surfaces of said posts and forming in effect extensions of the turned up sides of said metal pan, roof supporting rails secured to the upper ends of said posts, and an outside lining secured to the outer surfaces of said posts, whereby an air space is formed between said inside and outside linings extending downwardly 'from said roof supporting rails and open to the atmosphere at the lower ends of said linings to facilitate escape of products of condensation from the spaces between the said linings.

3. In a truck of the class described, a metal pan forming the entire body support and having lonpitudinal turned up sides, a series of wood posts secured to said turned up sides at spaced intervals and supported by said pan, a roof carried by said posts, an inside lining secured to the inside surfacesof said posts and overlapping the inside surfaces of the turned up sides of said pan, an outside lining running downwardly from said roof and secured to the outer surfaces of said posts whereby to form an air space between said linings leading to the atmosphere at the bottom of said outer lining to facilitate escape of products of condensation, a truck chassis, and means for securing said pan directly to said chassis whereby to complete the assembly of said truck.

4. In a truck of the class described, a metal pan having longitudinal turned up sides, a series of wood posts secured to the outside surface of said turned up sides at spaced intervals and supported by said pan, a roof carried by said posts, an inside lining secured to the inside surfaces of said posts and forming in effect extensions of the turned up sides of said metal pan, an outside lining running downwardly from said roof and secured to the outer surfaces of said posts whereby to form an air space between said linings leading to the atmosm phere at the bottom of said outer lining to facilitate escape of products of condensation formed forming the entire body support and having longitudinal turned up sides, a series of wood posts secured to said turned up sides at spaced intervals and supported by said pan, a roof carried by said posts, an inside lining secured to the inside surfaces of said posts and forming in effect extensions of the turned up sides of said metal pan, an outside lining running downwardly from said roof and secured to the outer surfaces of said posts whereby to form an air space between said linings leading to the atmosphere at the bottom of said outer lining to facilitate escape of products of condensation, a truck chassis, and means for securing said pan directly to said chassis whereby to complete the assembly of said truck.

EUGENE R. PRITCHARD. 

